General questions

General questions

Q. Is it mandatory for partner organisations to add the PIC number at registration?

A. The participant portal confirms that it is not mandatory for Partners Organisations to add the PIC number. The participant portal gives the possibility to add the PIC number but it is not an obligation.

Sweiss status

Q. What will happen to proposals that had completed the Budget Form before the change of status (AC to TC) of Switzerland was made to SEP? Will they still be eligible if they show Switzerland as EU/AC rather than TC?

A.The change of status of Switzerland does not require that already submitted proposals have to be changed, neither have draft proposals to be changed: the proposed secondments stay as they are, only their status as eligible for funding or not might change (and might affect the total budget).

However, this has no influence on the evaluation. Experts are asked to evaluate the project and the linked secondment table as submitted independent of the question which secondments are eligible for funding or not. REA will not exclude any proposal with Swiss partners from evaluation for eligibility issues. The total budget will only be determined after the evaluation and eligibility of the consortia checked again taking into account the status of Switzerland at that moment.

Definition of full time equivalent research experience

Q. Must the PhD years be calculated in the definition of “full time equivalent research experience”? in particular regarding the 7th FP.

A. According to the Work programme and the Guide for applicants making reference to it an experience researcher "shall, at the deadline for the submission of proposals, be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience." According to the same referenced documents the "Full-Time Equivalent Research Experience is measured from the date when a researcher obtained the degree which would formally entitle him/her to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited, irrespective of whether or not a doctorate is or was ever envisaged."

Avoiding underpayment of researchers

Q. Avoiding underpayment of researchers:

A. Underpayment of researchers is not allowed in MSCA. The beneficiary is explicitly obliged by the grant agreement to pay at least the predefined rates to the researchers. Furthermore, the cost claim is based on the unit costs, which will automatically be used by the reporting tool to calculate the amounts due. Therefore, by submitting the financial report the beneficiary actually confirms that the amount paid is equal to or higher than the one mentioned in the report. Finally, the documents stating the payments to the fellows must be kept in case of a later audit.